Fully integrated optical isolators for space division multiplexed (SDM) transmission

Abstract

A micro-optic collimator assembly represents an important platform for the realization of many commonly used fiber optic components and devices including optical isolators, circulators, gain flattening filters, and so on. In this paper, we investigate the incorporation of space division multiplexing (SDM) fibers (particularly, few mode fibers and multicore fibers) in a micro-optic collimator assembly and develop a technology base to provide fully integrated SDM components. A few exemplary SDM fiber isolators (e.g., 3 or 6-moded fiber isolator and a 32-core multicore fiber isolator) are successfully fabricated with low insertion loss and low mode (or core) dependent losses. Improved sharing of the functional optical element and significant device integration is efficiently achieved in these devices as will be required to ultimately realize the anticipated cost reduction benefits of SDM technology.